Chalk and Cheese Chronicles

Bakesale for Japan - The San Jose Event 4/2/11

I will be there, selling and buying, buying and buying. I love desserts. I also love knowing that we are all helping in this global relief effort for Japan.

Who else will be there? Many folks.

 

Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people,
can transform the world. -- Howard Zinn

San Jose Japantown is getting in on the national bakesale for Japan. Want to take part? Here's what you need to know:

When: Saturday, April 2nd from 10am-2pm

Where: Roy’s Station (197 Jackson St. in San Jose)

Who: Professional and amateur bakers, cooks, artists, artisans, and musicians coming together around food to make something BIG happen.

How: Want to help? We’ll need bakers, artists, volunteers, and lots and lots of customers. Please send offers of help to sanjosebakesale@gmail.com

Why: So we can donate BIG BUCKS to Peace Winds Japan and help our brothers and sisters over there in the best way we can. Stay tuned for details.

We will be folding 1,000 paper cranes to send to friends in Japan. Do you have origami paper to donate? Can you teach others how to fold cranes on the day of the sale? If so, send me an email.

After the bakesale is over, we'll be continuing our celebration and support of Japan. From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., Ukulele Jams and Ukulele Source will be holding a Kanikapila at the Roy's Station to benefit Japanese Red Cross Tsunami and Earthquake Victims.  Smiley and Janet Kai of Ukulele Source will be donating a Ukulele for the raffle.  Baristas will be donating all of their tips for the day, and Roy's Station will be donating 10% of their sales.

Roy's will have some great prizes to raffle off, including a Kala soprano travel 'ukulele (MSRP $225.00). 100% of the raffle proceeds will be donated to the relief fund.  We will be using Jim Beloff's The Daily Ukefor most of the songs for our monthly kanikapilas.  This books is a compilation of 365 songs (one for every day of the year) with a good variety.  If you would like your own copy, you can pick one up at Ukulele Source.  For each book sold between now and April 2nd, Ukulele Source will donate $5.00 to the relief fund. 

For more information see the Facebook Event Page and National Bakesale for Japan website.

 

Please stay tuned to this page as we post updates leading up to the event!
Thank you!

First Taste of the Apple Kool-Aid

My anti-Apple husband did the unthinkable, he sipped from the Apple Kool-Aid.  A few week's ago when frenzied Apple devotees started queueing for the new iPad 2, we became owners of two 32 GB original iPads -- for the kids.

Clearly, we aren't early adopters here. We're bargain hunters. And my husband is geeky; Apple people are not geeky, they're hip. The Apple image is so not him.

His announcement came out of the blue. Afterall, I need a new laptop (a Mac?) more than our boys need their own iPads. What was he thinking?

Lest he forget, let me showcase one of his often used excuses as to why we should remained a non-Apple family:

I won't be able to help you if something were to go wrong with a Mac.

I have Apple envy but the thought of my husband shrugging his shoulders and leaving me alone with a broken Mac scared me. He's my IT guy. I know I could get help at any Apple store, but what if I needed help at midnight or while on vacation?

The horror!

So while everyone around me acquired an iPhone of every generation, I settled down with my Android G1 and then later, with my G2. My friends tapped, I typed. But I came to love the slide out keyboard of my Android phones.

I've always had to make do with what was practical, even as a little girl. It's like when I wished for white French provincial furniture and a canopy bed when I was in grade school and my dad bought me a walnut bedroom set instead, saying I'd grow into it. It's hard to imagine you're a princess when your bedroom furniture is a manly brown. I guess I did eventually grow into it, but I never loved it.

While it's not my intention to raise spoiled kids, my boys are indulged far more than I ever was. Shesh, they are 6-year-olds with iPads! But I'm not so sure that going the practical route builds better character in kids either. I mean, I lived a very practical childhood and it hasn't made me feel stronger.

My boys sip from the Apple Kool-Aid on weekends, if they're good. I sip from it nightly, after the kids are in bed.

My husband? He may be holding an Android phone, but he's got an Apple Kool-Aid mustache.

 

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